Impressionism (1867-1886)

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. The name of the style is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.

Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes; open composition; emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time); common, ordinary subject matter; the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience; and unusual visual angles. The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media which became known as Impressionist music and Impressionist literature.

Radicals in their time, early Impressionists violated the rules of academic painting. They began by constructing their pictures from freely brushed colours that took precedence over lines and contours, following the example of painters such as Eugène Delacroix. They also painted realistic scenes of modern life, and often painted outdoors. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes had usually been painted in the studio.  The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air. They portrayed overall visual effects instead of details, and used short "broken" brush strokes of mixed and pure unmixed colour—not blended smoothly or shaded, as was customary—in order to achieve the effect of intense colour vibration.

Although the emergence of Impressionism in France happened at a time when a number of other painters, including the Italian artists known as the Macchiaioli, and Winslow Homer in the United States, were also exploring plein-air painting, the Impressionists developed new techniques that were specific to the style. Encompassing what its adherents argued was a different way of seeing; it was an art of immediacy and movement, of candid poses and compositions, of the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of colour.  The public, at first hostile, gradually came to believe that the Impressionists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if the new style did not receive the approval of the art critics and establishment.  By recreating the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than delineating the details of the subject, and by creating a welter of techniques and forms, Impressionism became a precursor of various styles of painting, including Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.

Key Artists:

·         Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

·         Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

·         Claude Monet (1840-1926)

·         Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

·         Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

A Guide to Impressionist techniques:

·         Short, thick strokes of paint in a sketchy way that allows the painter to capture   and emphasize the essence of the subject rather than its details.

·         Brush strokes are visible on the canvas.
Colours used with as little pigment mixing as possible, allowing the eye of the viewer to optically mix the colours as he or she looked at the canvas. This provides a vibrant experience for the viewer. 

·         Impressionists painted wet paint into the wet paint instead of waiting for previous layers to dry. This produced softer edges and intermingling of colour.

·         The impressionists put paint down thickly and did not rely upon layering.
Impressionists emphasized aspects of the play of natural light, including how colours reflect from object to object.

·         In outdoor paintings, they boldly painted shadows with the blue of the sky as it reflected onto surfaces, giving a sense of freshness and openness.

·         Impressionists worked "en plein air" (outdoors).

Assignment Tasks:

1.    Using the guide to Impressionist techniques you are required to produce a series of impressionist paintings of Old Leigh.  You will be painting ‘en plein air’.  And will need a artists board, water colour paper, paints, pencils and brushes.

 

Impression Sunrise (1872) Claude Monet

Pop Art (1950-1970’s)

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art. Pop removes the material from its context and isolates the object, or combines it with other objects, for contemplation. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it.

Pop art employs aspects of celebrity and mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects. It is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, as well as an expansion upon them.  And due to its utilization of found objects and images it is similar to Dada. Pop art is aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony.  It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques.

Much of pop art is considered incongruent, as the conceptual practices that are often used make it difficult for some to readily comprehend. Pop art and minimalism are considered to be art movements that precede postmodern art, or are some of the earliest examples of Postmodern Art themselves.

Pop art often takes as its imagery that which is currently in use in advertising. Product labeling and logos figure prominently in the imagery chosen by pop artists, like in the Campbell's Soup Cans labels, by Andy Warhol. Even the labeling on the shipping carton containing retail items has been used as subject matter in pop art, for example in Warhol's Campbell's Tomato Juice Box 1964, or his Brillo Soap Box sculptures. 

Key Artists:

·         Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

·         David Hockney (b.1937)

·         Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997)

·         Robert Indiana (b.1928)

·         Jasper Johns (b.1930)

·         Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)

·         Richard Hamilton (b.1922)

Tasks:

1.    Take something modern which is mass produced for consumption and reproduce it as a piece of art work.  E.g. Andy Warhol’s ‘Campbell Tomato Soup’ (1964) Silkscreen on canvas 

2.    Reproduce a comic strip in large format in paint or ink. E.g. Roy Lichtenstein’s ‘Whaam!’ (1963) Magna on Canvas

3.    Create a (David) Hockney ‘Joiner’ using numerous pictures to make one large image. E.g. Hockney’s ‘Pearblossom Highway’ (1986) Photographic Collage

 

Italian High Renaissance (1490-1530)

The High Renaissance is generally taken to refer to a period of exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, principally Rome, capital of the Papal States, under Pope Julius II. Assertions about where and when the period begins and ends vary, but in general the best-known exponents of Italian Renaissance painting are painters of the High Renaissance, including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and early Raphael.  The High Renaissance is widely viewed as a great explosion of creative genius, High Renaissance sculpture, as exemplified by Michelangelo's Pietà and the iconic David, is characterized by an "ideal" balance between stillness and movement.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was a Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.

Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà (1498-99) and David (1504), were sculpted before he turned thirty.

 

Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In a demonstration of Michelangelo's unique standing, he was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian Renaissance: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.

Leonardo was and is renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa (1503-1519) is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, with their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on everything from the euro to text books to t-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination.  Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.

Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator, the double hull and outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.

 

Raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483-1520), known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop, and despite his death at 37, a large body of his work remains. Many of his works are found in the Apostolic Palace of The Vatican, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was self-designed, but for the most part executed by the workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again regarded as the highest models. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Giorgio Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (from 1504–1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant 12 years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associate.

    

Sistine Madonna (1513-14)

Tasks:

1.    Produce a range of 2 dimensional drawings of the ‘human figure’ using pencil, charcoal, graphite and pen. 

2.    On location produce a range of 2 dimensional drawings of the ‘human figure’ in a setting. (Homework).

3.    Create a 3 dimensional figure directly recorded from the ‘human figure’. (Please photograph this).

4.    Evaluation and group Crit. 

Research:

1.    Print and annotate examples of the drawings of Michelangelo,  Leonardo Da Vinci and Raphael.

2.    Compare the work of these 3 masters.  What type of art did they produce? What are the differences and similarities of their work?  What is you opinion of the work?  

Leonardo da Vinci

Unit 1: Visual Recording in Art and Design

Unit Introduction:

This unit is about developing learners’ visual recording skills as an exploratory tool in communicating different ideas. Learning to observe and select visual information from the world around them forms a vital part of this unit. Learners will use primary sources to work from direct observation, developing their skill and understanding, to communicate and express creative ideas.

Our lives today are rich in creative visual imagery. Advertising, film, video and the internet have become an integral part of our visual experience. The quality of our visual world depends to a great extent on the visual recording skills of the artist or designer, and their ability to create exciting, innovative imagery. Recording skills lie at the heart of an artist’s success in communicating their message. In the process of generating their ideas, artists, craftspeople and designers need to select, use and refine their recordings in order to communicate with their audience effectively. The visual recording skills that learners develop through this unit will form the basis for all subsequent units and, therefore, underpin the whole qualification.

In this unit, learners will build their visual language skills and understanding through using the formal elements (line, tone, colour, shape, pattern, surface, structure etc) in a wide range of visual studies activities. Learners will develop the ability to identify and select for different purposes appropriate visual qualities from direct observation. Understanding the process of exploring and recording will involve experimenting with mark-making using varied materials, techniques and processes appropriate to learners’ specialist pathways.
 

 

On completion of this unit a learner should:1 Know how to identify sources for visual recording

2 Be able to record visually

3 Understand visual recording in others’ work

4 Understand own visual recording

5 Be able to develop visual recording to produce outcomes

A Quick Quide to Pencil Shading

The import thing when buying graphite pencils is to have a range of different grades. “H” pencils have hard leads. “B” pencils have soft leads. The higher the H or B number, the harder or softer they are; so an H9 is very hard, and a B9 is very soft. In terms of drawing, pencil “harness and softness” equate to lightness and darkness. A hard pencil will make a very faint, sharp grey line, while a soft pencil will make darker and less sharp mark. Pencil drawing is a matter of recording light and shade, so you need to use a range of lighter and darker pencils to capture tonal variations. The range you choose is up to you, and dependant on the style of drawings you wish to make, but the “Bs” are suitable for most drawings. I would recommend the minimum of an “HB” (neither hard nor soft), B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 9B.

Follow the link to see examples of pencil art:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pbradyartwork/3497043071/in/photostream/

Modern Art Timeline and Artists

 



Art Movement	Key Artists
Impressionism (1867-1886)	Renoir, Monet, Manet & Degas
Post-Impressionism (1880-1920)	Cezanne, Seurat, Van Gogh & Gauguin
Art Noveau (1890-1905)	Beardsley, Klimt, Toulouse-Lautrec
Fauvism (1900-1910)	Derain, De Vlaminck & Matisse
Expressionism (1905-1925)	Beckmann, Kirchner, Munch & Schiele
Cubism (1907-1921)	Braque, Gris & Picasso
Futurism (1909-1916)	Balla & Boccioni
Dadaism (1916-1923)	Ernst, Duchamp, Hausmann, Hoch, Heartfield, Picabia, Grosz & Man Ray
Surrealism (1924-1940’s)	De Chiro, Magritte, Dali & Miro
Abstract Expressionism (1943-1960’s)	De Kooning, Newman, Pollock & Rothko
Pop Art (1950-1970’s)	Hockney, Indiana, Lichtenstein & Warhol
Young British Artists	Hirst, Taylor-Wood, Wearing & Collishaw

Using Different Media in Art and Design

1)    Divide an A3 page into 8 equal sections

2)    Choose a visually interesting image that you shot last week to base your work on then recreate the image in the squares on your page using the following different materials:

·         Watercolour

·         Pastel

·         Charcoals

·         Coloured pencils

·         Poster paint

·         Crayon

·         Graphite stick

·         1B pencil

·         5B pencil

An example is shown below:

Watercolour	Pastel	Charcoal	Coloured pencil
Poster Paint	Crayon	Graphite Stick	Pencils

You may change the order of the materials if you wish

3)    Depending on whether you have selected a hope or despair image, evaluate the suitability of the different materials in relation to the theme of hope or despair